Social Development

In preparation for the fifty-seventh session of the Commission (CSocD57), the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) organized an expert group meeting on “Addressing inequalities and challenges to social inclusion through fiscal, wage and social protection policies”, from 25 to 27 June 2018 in New York.

The new UN report Promoting equality: An interregional perspective was launched by the UNECLAC Executive Secretary, Ms. Alicia Bárcena, on 27 June 2018. The report was jointly produced by the UN Regional Commissions and discussed at the interregional expert group meeting “Placing equality at the centre of the 2030 Agenda”, held in Santiago, Chile, from 27 to 28 June.

Inequality has been growingly recognized as a key socioeconomic predicament in many countries, negatively impacting the capacity to develop and to improve the welfare of people and countries. To combat this trend, inequality needs to be addressed through the formulation of multidisciplinary public policies that are in line with national contexts and priorities.

ESCAP presented “Social Protection in Asia and the Pacific” at a webinar as part of the UNSSC-ILO organized online course on “Social Protection for Sustainable Development”. ESCAP provided an overview of existing gaps in social protection in Asia and the Pacific, highlighted social protection trends in the region and shared some country examples that are also showcased in the Social Protection Toolbox.

While progress in eradicating extreme poverty has been incremental and widespread, the persistence of poverty, including extreme poverty remains a major concern in Africa, the least developed countries, small island developing States, in some middle-income countries, and countries in situations of conflict and post-conflict countries. In light of these concerns, the General Assembly, at its seventy-second session, decided to proclaim the “Third United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2018–2027)” (A/RES/72/233).

Despite progress in reducing the number of the world’s poor from 1.7 billion to 800 million over the past decades, led by China, most people living with less than $1.9 a day are still concentrated in Asia and the Pacific and in Africa. South Asia is now home to most poor people, while Sub-Saharan Africa follows closely with a worrisome trend: the absolute number of poor people has in fact increased over the years. This increase seen in Africa is a result of rapid population growth that has not been matched by equitably shared economic growth.